Digital and Remote Operation Investigative Devices

Dear Adventurers,

As many of you will be aware, the instability of the Portals continues to be an ongoing issue across all Chapters impacting our ability to explore the Realms of Arcadium.

Processes have been standardised across the Order for many years, including the strict time limit on adventures and open communication with Chapter Headquarters. In the rare instances that the Chapter is able to pick up any particularly abnormalities in the Portals, Adventure Guides are able to quickly bring back Adventurers. 

These practices have helped the Order to avoid any recent incidents but they have been informed by learning from the past. We have few records, but there are some that suggest that Adventurers have been ‘stuck’ in the Realms when Portals have closed behind them. Whilst the Order itself as its roots only in Chapters originating in the early 15th century, there is certainly conjecture that Portals may have existed for many centuries, or even millennia, before this time. In fact, there is a theory that the ‘Locals‘ of Arcadium may be the distant descendants of Adventurers that were caught beyond the Portals many centuries ago.

Our understanding of the Portals remains much of an art than a science; I would encourage you to read more here. We do not know precisely how they work but we are familiar with the usual behaviour of the Portals and have developed technologies to help us measure any changes in behaviour and use communication technologies to recall Adventurers when needed. Before these technologies existed, it would not be difficult to imagine that there would have been instances of Portals closing when Adventurers were on the other side.

While we continue to investigate the magic of the Portals, we are also working on how we can leverage even more technologies to assist in our Adventures. The Scientists are currently working on the development of a prototype Digital and Remote Operation Investigative Device, robots of a kind, that can be sent through the Portals and controlled remotely by Adventurers to explore and search for Artefacts.

These devices will be connected with the Archives and therefore have access to any information previously recorded by Adventures as well cameras and microphones for feeding live information to Adventurers. For now, they remain limited in their ability to interact with the environment with only simple ‘claw’ components.

We expect that this will allow for even more Adventurers to assist us with quests and searches beyond the Portals who may not otherwise be able to attend our Chapters and we even expect that these technologies will allow for longer Adventures, since the risk posed by the Portals closing will only result in the loss of a device. Having said that, the investment has been significant and we should not want to lose any devices if we can possibly avoid it! 

I look forward to writing to you all again soon in the near future with an update on the development and success of these new devices.

Stay curious,

E.L.L, MCAO
The Loremaster